The highest percentage of internationally diverse teachers with worldwide experience: This is RIS

Early Childhood

Mrs. Galvão has been teaching for 22 years and has been teaching at RIS for 7 years. She speaks English, Portuguese and basic Spanish. She has been to Morro de São Paulo, New York City and she loves sailing and visiting new places with her family. She received her education from the Universidade Estácio de Sá, graduate in Education and Universidade Cândido Mendes, postgraduate degree in Education Neuroscience.

Ms. Larissa Santos has been with RIS for 8 years. She speaks Portuguese and English. Ms. Santos was a volunteer teacher for four months in the USA at Morning Star Montessori School and Country Junction Preschool where she even further developed her teaching skills. UERJ - Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro is where she received her education.

Ms. Flávia Lisboa has been with RIS for one year. She speaks English and Portuguese. Ms. Lisboa studies pedagogy at Universidade Veiga de Almeida, and her biggest dream is to make a difference in the younger generation.

Ms. Duarte has been with RIS for one year. She speaks English, Portuguese and basic Spanish. She received her education at Faculdades São José. She loves to work with the little ones and her favorite part of her job is talking about God’s word with the kids.

Mrs. Miranda has been working in Art Education for over 15 years. She studied Dance Education at Universidade Estácio de Sá, has a post-graduate degree in Psychomotor Education at Instituto Brasileiro de Medicina e Reabilitação - IBMR. She speaks English and Portuguese and has been working at Rio International School for 6 years. Currently she teaches Preschool Art, and she is also the Events Coordinator. She enjoys making our students and the whole RIS community happy.

Primary

Mrs. Viviane Carvalho Amarante Rabelo has been an educator for 12 years and has been at RIS for the past 7 . She is Brazilian and speaks Portuguese, English and Spanish. Viviane loves to travel and enjoys meeting people from other countries and learning from them. She lived in Atlanta, Georgia for 6 months while studying English at Mercer University. Pedagogy at Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), People Management at Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) and Educational Psychology at Universidade Cândido Mendes (UCAM).

Mrs. Camilla Oliveira has been teaching for 25 years. She speaks both English and Portuguese. She has not only lived in Rio but spent her childhood living in London, England and São Paulo. She has been blessed with the opportunities to travel to many different places, but the place she loved the most and hopes to return to is Scotland. Mrs. Oliveira want to travel more and would love to visit Greece and Sicily because she loves the sea.

Ms. Garcia’s joined the RIS community after living in Rio de Janeiro for a total of 9 years. During this time she has worked as an international educator, English as a second language teacher, and pedagogical coordinator. Ms. Garcia was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She got her degree from an American university in Madrid, Spain where she also worked in education. She is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish. Ms. Garcia loves Rio de Janeiro and is passionate about nature and being in the outdoors as much as possible.

Ms. Luque taught for 6 years in Honduras before moving to Río de Janeiro. She visited Brazil three years ago and felt there was something special about the country. When she found out about RIS, she thought it was a great opportunity to learn more about Brazilian culture through a new teaching setting. Ms. Luque enjoys traveling and besides Brazil she has been in Spain, France, and Italy.

Ms. Renata Barros has recently returned to Brazil after living for three and half years in the United States. During those years she had unique experiences and priceless moments in New York, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. Ms. Barros has her MEd in Curriculum & Instruction at Houston Baptist University and a Marketing degree from Estácio de Sá University. She speaks Portuguese, English and basic Spanish. Her work experience recently has been in volunteering for 2 years as a first grade teacher and also as a mentor for at-risk students in Houston.

Ms. Racheal Leir has started her fifth year as an educator, and this will be her third year at RIS. Ms. Leir attended college at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, majoring in Elementary Education. She completed her student teaching at Togher Girls National School, an all girls Catholic school in Ireland. She is passionate about teaching, and enjoys being apart of the RIS family.

Ms. Rebeka Aytenfisu joins us from Canada. She has taught for 2 years and speaks English, French and Intermediate Spanish. Ms. Aytenfisu lived in Bogotá, Colombia for one year and has travelled throughout South America, Europe and North America and she has been to Egypt and Ethiopia. She attended the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.

Mrs. Viviane Rabelo

Mrs. Camila Oliveira

Ms. April Garcia

Ms. Andrea Luque

Ms. Renata Barros

Ms. Racheal Leir

Ms. Rebeka Aytenfisu

Secondary

Ms. Valéria Genaro (English) - vgenaro@riointernationalschool.com

Ms. Valeria Genaro has been an educator for 34 years and in the RIS family for the past 5. She loves being able to share God’s word and pray freely at school. Originally from Brazil, she attended university at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (U.F.R.J.) She has traveled to England and speaks both English and Portuguese.

Mr. Koolman has been an educator for 7 years and is new to RIS. He is Dutch and lived in Curaçao. He speaks English, Spanish and Papiamentu. Mr. Koolman received his education at Florida International University.

Mr. Luciano Viana has been teaching since he was in College, as a volunteer teacher at Community Pre-Vestibular Courses (the Brazilian version of SAT Prep Courses). After receiving his Bachelor’s in Geography and Education he taught at The British School in Rio de Janeiro, in 2010. Later he began teaching at Our Lady of Mercy School, also in Rio de Janeiro, where he stayed for five years, teaching both Geography and History. Prior to teaching in Rio he worked on an Italian cruise ship for nine months where he spent most of the time in the Mediterranean Sea traveling from place to place. After this experience, he lived for 2 and a half years in Phoenix, AZ, working and studying. He returned to Brazil to finish his undergraduate studies and went to Tarragona, a city near to Barcelona, in Spain. There he started a Master’s program, but he paused his studies for one big reason: he fell in love with the woman who became his wife, he then returned to Brazil. In total, he lived four years abroad and visited 16 countries. He speaks Portuguese, English, Spanish, Italian, and Catalan. He’s on his second year at Rio International School and is very happy to be part of our community!

Mr. Barry Still (Science) - bstill@riointernationalschool.com

Mr. Mark Sauter (History) - msauter@riointernationalschool.com

Mr. Matthew Brown (Bible) - mbrown@riointernationalschool.com

Mr. Brown was born in Burton Upon Trent in England. At a young age his family moved and he grew up in a small village called Clifton about 40 miles north of London. He studied chemistry at Kingston University in London and graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science. He then worked in the chemical industry for 3 years. Mr. Brown attended The William Booth College of The Salvation Army in London and studied to be an Officer (Pastor) for 2 years where he then acquired his Biblical and Pastoral studies degree. After this he worked for 13 years in Salvation Army churches in London and came to Rio Comprido in 2015. Until moving to Brazil he had only lived in England. However he has travelled to Canada, France, Switzerland, St. Martin (Caribbean), New York and LA. Mr. Brown loves to see new places and experience other cultures. There are so many things he loves about Brazil! The people, culture, music, food, beaches in Rio, and lastly the mountains. To him the country is absolutely beautiful and he loves being here. He considers Brasil his home now.

Mr. Raphael Campos (Mathematics) - rcampos@riointernationalschool.com

Mr. Reyno Abasolo (Mathematics) - rabasolo@riointernationalschool.com

Ms. Valéria Genaro

Mr. Francis Koolman

Mr. Luciano Viana

Mr. Barry Still

Mr. Mark Sauter

Mr. Matthew Brown

Mr. Raphael Campos

Mr. Reyno Abasolo

Specials

Mrs. Barberet had been teaching for a year in France before moving to other countries and being a private tutor in French and English abroad. She has recently moved to Rio de Janeiro to be part of the RIS family. She received her education from the University of Burgundy in France (Bachelor’s in English Literature and Civilization) and from the Dijon Institute of Business Administration (Master’s in Tourism and Management). She speaks French, English, some Spanish and very basic Portuguese. She loves running, eating and traveling. She lived in the UK, Asia and now Brazil. Northern Ireland in the UK, where she lived for some time, has a very special place in her heart.

Ms. Katarina Rasic is an art educator and artist from Belgrade, Serbia and has recently moved to Rio de Janeiro to be a part of the RIS family. She holds a Master’s degree from University of Fine Arts in Belgrade, Serbia and is a member of the Association of Fine Artists of Serbia. She has received certification from IB workshop, Arts: Visual and performing: Delivering the MYP curriculum in Mumbai in 2017. She spent 4 years teaching in India, first at Bangalore International school as a secondary 2D and 3D visual arts teacher and then at Jamnabai Narsee International school (Mumbai) as a MYP visual art teacher. Ms. Rasic has been part of and organized various art projects and exhibitions around the world.

Ms. Vining has been teaching for two years in the United States and has recently moved to Rio de Janeiro to be apart of the RIS family. She received her education from the University of Louisville (Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, concentration in Special Education Learning & Behavior Disorders) and Pennsylvania State University (Masters in Special Education with an emphasis in Applied Behavior Analysis). She speaks English and basic Portuguese. Ms. Vining loves to travel. She has been to Kenya, Morocco, Botswana, South Africa, Indonesia, Belize, and Amsterdam. Africa has always had a special place in her heart and Morocco is the most exotic/interesting place she has been to.

Mr. Maia joined the RIS team after living in the U.S. and working as a personal trainer for the most well-known gym in Chicago. Also, he had the chance to work with fellow PE teachers in Chicago at a local school. Before living in the United States, Mr. Maia worked as a personal trainer, surf instructor, and soccer coach in Rio de Janeiro. Mr. Maia has a teaching and Bachelor's degree in Physical Education and is an internationally certified personal trainer. Henrique loves the outdoors. His hobbies are beach volleyball, surfing, soccer, and foot-volleyball.

Ms. Iensue has been part of the RIS family for 12 years, and her favorite part of her job is learning and teaching about God’s word everyday. She was in San Francisco, CA, USA, and grew up in Rio, she returned to New Jersey, USA, and lived there for 20 years. Ms. Iensue is happy to be at RIS because God called her to work here and it has been the biggest blessing in her life! She has traveled quite a bit but her favorite place to visit has been Toronto, Canada.

Ms. Elisa Fairbairn has been part of the RIS family for 3 and a half years but has been working in counseling for 8. She attended PUC-Rio and speaks Portuguese, English, and French, and in her free time she travels to Sao Paulo, goes to the beach, and enjoys time with friends and family. She lived in France (Paris and Nice) during College to study French. Ms. Fairbairn has traveled quite a but but mainly in Europe, she has also been to Central and South America and the United States.

Mrs. Chloe Barberet

Ms. Karen Thompson

Ms. Katarina Rasic

Ms. Lauren Vining

Mr. Henrique Maia

Ms. Jackie Iensue

Portuguese

Mrs. Cathia Lira (Portuguese) - clira@riointernationalschool.com

Mrs. Lira has been a teacher for 38 years and works at RIS for 4 years in both Portuguese and Portuguese as a Second Language in Elementary and High School. She has a degree in Arts - licentiate in Portuguese, English and Literature and is post-graduate in Education. She visited several cities in the United States, and in South America, she visited Chile and Argentina. She also visited England, Switzerland, Spain and is passionate about Florence, Italy. Despite knowing so many places, she still considers Brazil the most beautiful and welcoming place. RIS for her is, above all, a great love experience with God, her students and fellow faculty members.

Ms. Ana Lúcia Macabu has been a teacher for 15 years, 14 of which in the RIS family. She loves to teach, has a degree in History and Geography in Universidade Augusto Motta, and post-graduation in Psycho-Pedagogy. She also loves nature, especially the sun and the ocean.

Mrs.Stella Spolidoro (Portuguese as a Second Language) - sspolidoro@riointernationalschool.com